By Wendy Underhill

Have you heard? Nov. 7 is an Election Day.

While it won’t be huge from the national perspective, the day matters a lot to the voters in 10 states that have statewide races or ballot measures to decide, and to at least some of the voters in nine states, where special elections for legislative seats will be decided.

The big races are in New Jersey and Virginia. Both governorships are at stake, with open races to replace one Democrat, Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, and one Republican, Chris Christie in New Jersey.

And, a total of 250 legislative seats will be decided: 80 in the New Jersey House, 40 in the New Jersey Senate, 100 in the Virginia House of Delegates, and 30 in special elections spread across Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Washington.

See NCSL’s StateVote 2017 webpage for a map of current partisan control in the states, analysis of the races, and a rundown of all 27 statewide ballot measures. NCSL’s elections team will report the outcomes early on Nov. 8.

(A hint: chamber control is unlikely to switch in New Jersey or Virginia, but special elections in the Evergreen State could cause the Washington Senate to switch. Now, it is nominally held by the Democrats, with a 25-24 advantage. Since one Democrat caucuses with the Republicans, effective control is with the Republicans.)

Wendy Underhill is the director of elections at NCSL.

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